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Home Henry II and the Restoration of Order Henry II and the Restoration of Order; Part 2 |
Henry II and the Restoration of Order; Part 2The ease with which his restoration of order was carried out makes it clear that Henry had on his side the mass of the people of England. They had suffered under Stephen's folly and the barons' cruelty long enough to know that the best thing for all was a strong king. If only Henry were " strong and of a good courage " the land would have rest. And rest was what the land needed.Henry was, however, far more than a domineering king, bent on having his own way. He was a statesman. He set himself not only to check misdeeds, but to prevent future misdoing. He sought precautions as well as remedies. His authority might be recovered by force, but it must be maintained by law. Thus, while he strengthened his army, he also took pains to strengthen his law courts. Hitherto the weakness of the feudal army had been twofold. First, there was the danger of mutiny or neglect. If the king was weak, the baron would not come: or perhaps he came with only a part of his proper followers. But even when the king was, like Henry, strong enough to compel attendance, there was another fatal defect: the tenant was only bound to serve for forty days in the year. It was impossible to carry on a campaign, especially when sieges were long and tiresome, with soldiers who went home again after a little more than a month in the field. So Henry relied more on soldiers whom he paid to fight for him. He used a plan, begun in his grandfather's time, of taking a tax called "scutage" (Le. a "shield tax"), which was a payment imposed on each "knight's fee" - that is to say, the holding of land which would be liable to provide him with a knight and his proper attendants for service in war. Further, when Henry was planning a distant expedition to Toulouse in 1159, he enlarged the practice by permitting his barons to pay a fine instead of accompanying him in person, and with the money thus obtained he hired soldiers. In this way the king got a better army, and the barons became weaker. As they often preferred to stay at home, they grew less warlike and their vassals less skilled in arms. If they were to rebel they would find the king with a disciplined force, while they themselves had only a band of ill-trained and discontented followers. In this way "scutage " did much to weaken feudalism in England. The other of Henry's military measures falls at the end of his reign; but it deserves notice here as it too helped to destroy the warlike powers of the barons. By the "Assize of Arms", in 1181, he revived the old Saxon army of the "fyrd", that national levy of all between the ages of sixteen and sixty. Since the Norman men-at-arms had ridden down the flying Saxon footmen at Hastings, the feudal array had been favoured and the "fyrd" despised. It was the day of heavy cavalry: infantry were held of small account. None the less the " fyrd " had been called out at times of pressing need, and had done good service both against the Scots, and against rebellious barons in 1173-4. The Assize of Arms laid down that every freeman was to possess certain weapons, and these were to be inspected at intervals to see they were in good order. This force of freemen was the origin of our militia. Henceforth the king had two armies - a small force of paid and trained soldiers for service abroad, and a militia to defend England against the foreign invader or rebellious barons. Thus the old feudal levy was less and less needed. Feudalism by degrees lost its military character, became less dangerous to the Crown, and sank into a method of holding land. |
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